EU chief diplomat:

North Korea must stop supporting Putin

(Bild: AFP/John Thys )

EU chief diplomat Josep Borrell is calling on North Korea to stop its possible support for Russian war efforts against Ukraine. "Continued military support by North Korea for Russia's war of aggression against Ukraine will be met with an appropriate response," he said.

"The European Union is coordinating with its international partners on this matter, including on how to respond." It was a unilateral, hostile act by North Korea with serious consequences for peace and security in Europe and worldwide, said the EU foreign policy chief.

Recent reports of the presence of North Korean troops on Russian soil in support of Kremlin leader Vladimir Putin's war of aggression against Ukraine had been confirmed to him by the European intelligence situation center Intcen, Borrell said. North Korea has supplied weapons and ammunition to Russia.

"Blatant violation of the UN Charter"
"The presence of several thousand soldiers working with the Russian military is a blatant violation of the UN Charter and several UN Security Council resolutions," Borrell said. He will travel to Japan and South Korea this week for talks.

Pentagon: 10,000 North Koreans in Russia
According to estimates by the US Department of Defense, around 10,000 soldiers have been sent from North Korea to Russia. Some of them have begun to move to the Kursk region near the border with Ukraine. Should they be deployed in combat, this would be very worrying, said Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin.